Science Fiction for Old Farts

Grandmaster Heinlein

Science Fiction Classics – a yahoo group I belong to – recently said ‘lets talk about Heinlein’. The group unfortunately suffers from under-participation, despite the moderator’s herculean efforts at generating interest (perhaps its because those into the classics are not into the internet).

He did give me something to talk about though.

I’ve been ‘into’ Heinlein since the very first science fiction novel I ever picked up. It was, in fact, Heinlein’s Starman Jones, a novel that I’ve probably re-read on average once a year for the past forty years.

My friends obviously picked up on my infatuation; in high school we filmed a 16mm spoof of Star Wars and during the garbage disposal scene, our caricatures of Han, Luke, Leia and Chewbacca were showered with Heinlein books… I’d written the script for the film, but was caught completely unawares by the ad lib changes, much to the amusement of everyone.

Since picking up Starman Jones, I’ve dutifully read every last shred of fiction (and most of the non-fiction) that ever rolled out of RAH’s typer. Much like Mel Gibson’s character in Conspiracy Theory, I have an uncontrollable compulsion to purchase any first edition of his books that I happen to run across – whether I already own one or not. I’ve literally worn out copies of Starman Jones, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Time Enough For Love, Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers (not figuratively, no, the ink on the pages has faded into illegibility).

I was fortunate enough to be able to meet the man (and his lovely wife Virginia) once (during and preceding the blood drive at WSFS SunCon in 1977) and have been equally fortunate to have acquired several editions of his books that are autographed.

To say that I have a passion for Heinlein is a gross understatement. Let’s put it this way; pick a social issue, pick a libertarian character from one of his stories and you’ll know where I stand. (Its probably NOT a good idea to let young, impressionable minds read Heinlein. They’ll get all kinds of contrarian ideas about ethics and morals and freedom and responsibility.)

Over the years folks have taken great pains to discuss, analyse (and in some cases find fault with) one of my favorite authors. For the most part, they’ve gotten it all wrong. He had his own personal views on things, but you can find plenty of contradictions in his published work. More than enough to prove that he wrote his stories to both entertain and explore, and he wasn’t afraid of adopting unpopular viewpoints while doing so.

When discussing Heinlein with people who’ve yet to read anything by him, the discussion inevitably turns to which novel to recommend. The four most popular suggestions seem ‘any of the juvenovels’ (Heinlein wrote a fair number of YA novels from the late 40s to the mid 50s), The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.

There are good and bad reasons for each of those recommendations, and I won’t get into debating them, but what I can do is give you a list of his novels and story collections with a bit of a twist. I’m going to list them by ‘frequency of re-read’. Maybe taking a look from the perspective of someone who’s read everything by the man – and much of it multiple times – you’ll get some ideas about where to start yourself. (Where appropriate, I’ve added a note or two.)

Most frequently re-read

Starman Jones

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Starship Troopers

Stranger in a Strange Land

The Door into Summer

Time Enough for Love

Farnham’s Freehold

Glory Road – everything up to this point has been re-read on the close order of once every two or so years, at least

Tunnel in the Sky

The Puppet Masters

Orphans of the Sky

Frequently re-read

Have Space Suit—Will Travel

The Past Through Tomorrow – short story collection it incorporates most of the other collections

Between Planets

Space Cadet

Methuselah’s Children

Farmer in the Sky

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

The Star Beast

Citizen of the Galaxy

Infrequently Re-Read

Time for the Stars

Expanded Universe – short story collection that is, again, very comprehensive

The Man Who Sold the Moon

Friday

The Rolling Stones

Rocket Ship Galileo

The Green Hills of Earth

Red Planet

Sixth Column

Waldo & Magic, Inc.

Re-read a few times

Revolt in 2100

Podkayne of Mars

The Menace From Earth

Double Star

Beyond This Horizon

Three by Heinlein

The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein

Re-read three or fewer times

Assignment in Eternity

The Number of the Beast

Job: A Comedy of Justice

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

I Will Fear No Evil

To Sail Beyond the Sunset

For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs

Variable Star – shouldn’t really count as its Spider Robinson completing RAH notes. Sorry Spider, I know how much you love Heinlein, but this thing was pretty awful.

1. Wow! How on earth do you find the time to re-read so many books so often? How do you find time to read anything new? As a slow reader, I am constantly amazed at (and jealous of) the speed-reading abilities of others.

2. Admission: I’ve only read one Heinlein book so far, and it didn’t convert me to fandom. So, what would you recommend to someone who has read The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and wasn’t impressed? I feel I should give such a respected author at least one more chance, so what else should I try?

‘nother old fart: considering that I was that person – I think his (my) reactions were totally understandable.

Bill: there are multiple answers to your first question. Once you’ve read a book a few times, it becomes familiar territory; not that I skimmed, but it was like visiting with old friends, rather than meeting new people. Second, many of Heinlein’s works are short – especially in the face of today’s 1000 page doorstops. The vast majority are under 250 pages in paperback format. The juveniles are ‘fast reads’. The tough parts are handled with such grace and style that they just slip into your brain without causing you to stumble and think to much – but they’re in there. Third, my initial sets of reads of most of RAH’s stuff was done in junior high and high school. I read all day. I’d hide an SF novel inside the textbook I was supposed to be reading. I skipped eating lunch to read, I read on the bus. My idea of the prefect vacation was a hotel room at the Jersey shore, because my parents and brother would go to the beach and leave me in the room to read. (Bliss.)

I did learn one major lesson. When reading and riding your bicycle, look up more frequently than you think you should.

As for recommendations: tell me a bit about what your favorite kind of story and/or characters are, and I’ll pick something for you.

Hmmm…. it’s harder for me to explain what I DO like, and easier to explain what I don’t. I think the reason I didn’t like Harsh Mistress had little to do with the story per se; I’m into SF that tries to make a social comment. It was more about the characters seeming shallow and one-dimensional, and more importantly for me, the whole tone of the novel being too light-hearted and palyful. It was as if he didn’t take the story completely seriously, or so it seemed to me.

I’ve heard it said that all of Heinlein’s work shows that light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek tone, and if that’s true, then maybe he’s just not for me. But like I said, I’d like to read at least one more of his novels before passing judgement.

My favorite has always been old Lazarus. In fact, I used to, after a bit of conversation, ask if the person I was talking to knew who Lazarus Long was? Almost to a person, if they knew, they became great friends. A “no” didn’t automatically mean a write off, but a “yes” was almost fool proof!!!

Great list.

I also read the books imbedded in textbooks!! Never got caught either!!